acme tools

[Tony Z]

Tony Z: ACE Seven Corners hardware in St. Paul, now that is a company I have not heard mentioned in a while!

Great company and as a friend once said "If Seven Corners does not  have it, it's not made." Purchased a few things from them in the 1980's. Sometimes shipping was included in the then good prices. I recall the full pages ads in Fine Woodworking and other magazines as well as the catalogue. Spent many an evening going through the catalogue and spending imaginary money.

Closed in what the early-mid 1990's?? I cannot believe that it has been that long.

I believe the mail order closed in the early 90's, but the hardware remained open till a dozen, or so, years ago (I seem to remember something on TV about it closing and the building being demolished). Had a great catalog, with everything.

[Bluepine]

Seven Corners last catalog was 2009 and I believe they closed in 2010.

[fredhargis]

  Then I believe it became an Amazon dealer, but if I remember correctly, that didn't work so well, and it went back to being independent.

That's not what happened. Amazon bought their on line business, then called Tool Crib of the North. Acme tools agreed not to compete with Amazon for some number of years (10, I think) then they would be allowed to go back into on line orders. As soon as they were free to sell tools on line, they came back as their parent's name: Acme Tools.

[Blancober]

I had a similar case, but unlike you, I was brought a flyer twice, and the second time I was able to go to their website. When I visited the website for the second time, I ordered pruning shears. I just moved into a house with a small garden, and I needed this tool. Even though the place looked gorgeous, the garden looked neglected. It was difficult for me to accept such a view from the window, as I am a perfectionist. I love when everything looks aesthetically. Also, for a complete set of gardeners, I bought special chemical agents for watering.

[EdL]

Never had an issue with Acme.....good prices and fast shipping.

Ed

[Cooler]

• Acme sent me a door flyer this morning 9:04 I was interested in the hitachi vaccuum, 9:15 i go on their site not available, don't know when their going to be available, wtf don't send a flyer if your out of stock, OK rant off 
• HITACHI-RP350YDH
  

Or I guess they had one and it sold in 5 minutes
my bad I guess.

A few years ago Amazon had a sale that opened at 10:00 a.m.  EST. I don't remember what the item was, but they had only 50 units.  I had an atomic clock and I had the order ready and I only had to place the "order" button.  I waited until the exact second that 10:00 a.m. rolled around and I was too late.  They all had been sold.

It has to be signal speed.  Someone lived closer to Amazon than I did.

[Cabinet Monkey]

That's actually backwards, Hitachi purchased Metabo, and then renamed some of their products with the Metabo name.

Thanks for the clarification Fred-I was relaying was a borg clerk told me!  In any case, both Hitachi and Metabo have been decent tools, just hope they remain so!

........and not the entire story.    After Hitachi Koki bought Metabo, Koki’s parent - Hitachi Ltd. sold the whole shooting match to the LBO firm of KKR.   Who then came up with the whole rebranding scheme.  

Seems they’ve left Metabo Germany alone for the moment , but lots of stuff branded Metabo hpt is suffering from value engineering to compete with porter cable and Ryobi. Especially the battery tools. I’d steer clear.

[fredhargis]

Thanks for that CM. I had not kept up with the churn. I do know KKR manages to ruin most stuff they touch in their quest for "unlocked value".

[wing nut]

Acme was a superb vendor way back in the day (80s, and at one time, wasn't it part of Seven Corners?).  Then I believe it became an Amazon dealer, but if I remember correctly, that didn't work so well, and it went back to being independent.  I purchase a number of tools from them, great price and delivery, however, never used them for repair work.  I have at least 50 years in the hobby, with the first twenty in the profession.

Many of the power tools (not stationary) I bought way back when, are still going strong.

I still buy from acme, this is a one off, not to be desrespectfull to acme, I think their one of the better vendors out their other then this their service has been superb , and maybe this saved me from making a foolish purchase without thinking overnight about it.

[Bob10]

I had never had a bad experience with them until now.  I placed an order for something on December 26th
with a promised ship date in January that came and went.  I contacted them and the woman gave me some BS about it being a different part number as it was part of a promotion.  So I contacted the manufacturer who told me there was no such thing.  Then contacted ACME with the email from the company and the woman tells me that they are waiting for a restock to fill the promotion orders.  I aske why is the tool showing available for purchase and in stock online.  The response is that they are only being supplied a small number and are selling those, hopefully they will have enough to fill previous orders soon.


Never again and if anyone asks I tell them why